Wednesday, May 28, 2008

We are in full on prep mode at the Hoffman Headquarters right now. Last minute nursery details, yardwork getting to "maintenance only mode" (yeah right), some final house projects coming to completion.

Official game clock is at 17 days, 1 hour and 2 minutes to touch down in Addis Ababa, but hey who's counting?

Today I was able to check one more thing off the "to-do" list (and Laura did it last week). Completing our vaccinations. And let me just be truthful - needles stink. Yeah, I know - "But Tymm, you have those tattoos." That doesn't mean I am some crazy needle fetish guy into pain or anything. Needles still stink.

Now don't get me wrong - I'd take a 50cc syringe of Clorox Bleach to the eye if it meant getting to go bring Meron home right now. Fortunately travel to Ethiopia doesn't require that (whew).

Actually - they don't require much at all but they do recommend quite a few things. And after having the cheapskate scared out of me by some handouts from the Health Department - I decided to get poked to the tune of this:

Yellow Fever

Typhoid

Hep A / Hep B combo (thats three shots thank you very much)

Meningococcal

Polio

So now it's all over. I am good to go. The nurse said "It's gonna hurt but use your arm like you regularly would."

So I went to my flag football game tonight with 3 Scooby Doo band-aids on my arms. That's just how tough I am.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

May 21st was the holy grail of days for us - it was our little girl's court date. We were already her mommy and daddy in our hearts and minds, but this process would make it official on paper.

No worries, right? Well - we tried.

It was comforting to know that when we woke up on May 21st - due to the time difference - her court appointment would likely have already happened. Actually - not comforting at all. I didn't sleep well - finally crawling in to the bed around 5:00 am and Laura had a restless night too.

But at 9:43 AM that worrying came to a halt - we got the email from our agency saying our case had been granted by the court! We are her parents! It's hard to explain that feeling that came over us. Joy. Relief. Contentment. Peace.

This was one of the last hurdles we needed to clear and not only did we clear it - we eased over it with barely any effort. God is that good.

And to top the day off we got a bi-monthly report on our daughter from the agency with 3 new pictures. She is looking so healthy and so good. Shaved head and all!

My favorite part of the assessment? It stated that she "Enjoys playing peek-a-boo."

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Okay - so I am making this post because I want everybody to go on over to the Red Letters Campaign and read about what they are doing. If that's not enough to get ya riled up - go out and buy the book "Red Letters" by Tom Davis. Or go read his blog.

I can't see how anyone could make it to the last page of that book, close it, say "I'm doing enough" and still feel good about themselves. I know I can't. That book reached right out and smacked me in the face from page 1. I tried to turn my cheek but it smacked me again.

Because we are NOT doing enough. Christians are not doing enough. Churches are not doing enough. I don't know why we, as Christians, have been okay with leaving it up to rock stars, celebrities and governments.

Jesus was really clear about it. And just in case there be any doubt, some translators and printers of the Bible showcased it in red lettering to really help us get it.

And we still missed it.

More on this later - but for now - go read that stuff for yourself. I would love to hear what other Christians think about those red letters and what us followers of Christ are doing in regards to the things He told us to do.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

On Friday Tymm and I headed to NC to see my family. Of course our hearts have been heavy this week with the news of our daughter's illness and hospitalization. Then the good news on Wednesday that she was getting better took our emotions to a new high. Honestly, I never knew what roller coaster this journey would be to our daughter, but I would not trade it for the world.

Anyway, because she was in the hospital, I thought it would be best to let our agency know we would be traveling and that if they had any news to either email or call our cell phones. I received an email from the agency director saying that she would call if it was bad news and write us if it was good news. She hoped to have an update for us by the time we arrived in NC.

So Tymm and I hit the road Friday morning around 10:30 and head to Starbucks for our caffeine fix. As we are pulling in my cell rings...it was our agency. My heart sunk. They said they would only call with bad news. I answered... scared, defensive and already hurting. Once I heard her voice I knew it was okay. She gave us the wonderful news that our baby girl had been released from the hospital on Thursday! All symptoms of her illness are gone and she is all better! The doctors are keeping her on her antibiotics for a few days but other than that she is well!

Needless to say, Tymm and I were overjoyed. God is so good...not meaning that every prayer gets answered the way we want it to, but He is just so good. I hope that I would be saying that no matter the outcome of the situations in our lives. For now though, we are standing on God's mountaintop raising our hands to our creator and rejoicing for the health of our girl!

Thank you, Jesus for holding our baby close while we cannot...that day is coming...and soon.